WATTER is a new trio made up of close friends and collaborators whose collective pedigree reads like a desert island list of must-haves in experimental rock musicians. Multi-instrumentalists Zak Riles (Grails) and Tyler Trotter are anchored by legendary drummer Britt Walford (Slint, Evergreen) on six genre-defying pieces of monolithic mood music. For Riles and Trotter, it’s a chance to dig deeper into the sandbox in which Grails have sculpted many mercurial masterpieces in recent years; for Walford, it’s the opportunity to play a substantial role in a new active band for the first time in nearly twenty years. Their debut album, This World, was released by Temporary Residence and was one of our favorite records of 2014.

(Photo of Steve Gunn by Constance Mensh.)

STEVE GUNN is a New York-based guitarist and songwriter. With a career spanning nearly fifteen years, Steve has produced volumes of critically acclaimed solo, duo, and ensemble recordings. Way Out Weather, GUNN’s album released last fall on Paradise of Bachelors, shows his discursive, mantric guitar style, at once transcendent and methodical — and as influenced by Western guitarists such as Michael Chapman and Sonny Sharrock as by Ghanaian highlife, Gnawa, and Carnatic forms.

Watch the video for STEVE GUNN’s “Way Out Weather” here:

“…The charming swagger of jazz-folk troubadour Tim Buckley and the resonant, full picking style of Bert Jansch.” – NPR Music

RYLEY WALKER is a 24 year-old singer/songwriter and guitarist from Chicago. Having kicked around Chicago’s experimental free/noise music scene for several years, Ryley recently turned to a folk-rock sound inspired by some of his heroes, among them Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, and Bert Jansch. His new album, Primrose Green, will be released on March 31st by Dead Oceans.

Watch the video for RYLEY WALKER‘s “Primrose Green” here:

(Photo by Elizabeth Hartsig.)

NATHAN SALSBURG is an archivist, producer, guitarist, and writer based in Louisville, Kentucky. Since 2000 he has worked for the Alan Lomax Archive, for which he currently serves in the capacity of Curator, compiling and producing album releases of the renowned folklorist’s recordings, and managing the Archive’s online audio, photo, and video catalogs, and its popular YouTube channel. Salsburg has also produced archival releases for the Grammy-winning Tompkins Square label, and he curates the Twos & Fews imprint of Chicago’s Drag City record company. As an acoustic guitarist, he has released three critically acclaimed albums — a duet with Chicago’s James Elkington, entitled Avos (Tompkins Square, 2011) and two solo records, Affirmed (No Quarter, 2011) and Hard for to Win and Can’t Be Won (No Quarter, 2013) — and has appeared on WNYC Radio’s “Soundcheck” program and in NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert” series.